


New Traditions

by chartreuseblueandyellow



Series: A Macgyver Christmas (one-shots) [2]
Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:07:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28125123
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chartreuseblueandyellow/pseuds/chartreuseblueandyellow
Summary: “We should make this into a new Christmas tradition.”His eyes lit up at the idea, and softly smiling at her, he replied, “I think that’s a great idea Riles.”
Relationships: Riley Davis/Angus MacGyver (MacGyver TV 2016)
Series: A Macgyver Christmas (one-shots) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2054454
Comments: 8
Kudos: 57





	New Traditions

**Author's Note:**

> This was meant to be a short one shot but this fic just demanded more be written and so I kinda got carried away and wrote WAY more than I was planning.  
> And yeah Riley is still living at Mac’s, but I want that to still be happening so bad that in my fic they are. Sue me.  
> Anyways, I hope you enjoy :)  
> Let me know what you think!

_Prompt: Making New Traditions_

They sighed in relief as they entered and dropped their bags on the ground. Riley managed a small smile.  
"Finally home."

Mac tightly smiled in reply and Riley's faded away. The mission had been tough, both mentally and physically, and especially on Mac who had been forced to come up with ways to get them out of quite a few life and death situations.  
Riley needed to do something to get his spirits up, Mac going to sleep with a heavy mind would only mean bad nightmares for him. 

Her eyes passed over the undecorated Christmas tree in the corner of the living room. They'd put it up a week or so ago but with how hectic work had been, they hadn't had time to decorate it yet.  
Decided, Riley went to Mac who was now unenthusiastically looking in the cupboard for something to eat.

"Hey Mac!"  
He turned around and raised an eyebrow at her enthusiasm.  
"Grab your snack, we're gonna go decorate the tree!"  
At his unsure look she reached out and grabbed the packet of chips from in front of him, saying, "c'mon, it'll be fun!"

He smiled, a real one this time, and shrugged.  
"Yeah, why not?"  
They walked over to the tree, Riley happy that Mac already seemed lighter at the idea. They sat down in front of the tree cross-legged, opened up the chips, then froze and looked at each other, speaking in unison.

"Do you even _have_ any ornaments?"  
"I forgot to get any decorations!"

They burst into laughter, and through it, Riley said, "well I guess that answers my question!"

Shaking his head, Mac spoke with a smile.  
"Well, I guess we're going to have to do what we do best and improvise up some ornaments."

Riley laughed and was about to reply when Mac's eyes flashed and she couldn't help but grin.  
He had an idea.  
It was confirmed when he stood up, said, "I'll be right back," and ran out of the room.  
She wondered what he had up his sleeve this time.

He ran back into the room a few moments later carrying a few small containers which sounded like they had things in it.  
He sat down next to her and she laughed when she saw the four containers of paper clips.  
Joining in, he said, "people keep giving me paper clips, and honestly I don’t mind, but I do have _quite a few_ at this point so may as well put them to use.”

She shrugged while grinning.  
"Fair enough,” and an idea coming to mind, she added, “how about we make this into a competition?”  
He raised an eyebrow, but she could tell he was interested so continued.  
“How about we… we each suggest a category and we both have to make an ornament based on that.

He held back a smile as he asked, "and how do we win?"

Because it was a spur of the moment plan, she hadn't really thought it through, and shrugging, she replied, "I dunno. I guess we judge based on looks and which one fits the category better."

Making no attempt to hide his smile this time, he asked, "and what if I pick mine and you pick yours?"  
She shot him an unimpressed look. "Don't look too much into the details Mac, clearly this is an impromptu plan."

He smiled and, while opening the boxes for her and himself, she added in a whisper, "and even though the rules are vague, I intend to win."

"What was that?"

She turned to see him looking at her with an eyebrow raised, clearly he had heard what she'd said, but she just shot him an innocent smile.  
"Nothing -" he grinned "- but since I came up with this plan, how about you choose our first topic?" 

He paused, thinking about it, then said with a smile, "favourite thing about Christmas.”

She nodded then set to work, unravelling paper clips and twisting them together, and after a while, created a pretty good looking snowflake.  
“Done!”

Mac looked over and smiled.  
“While your snowflake looks great, can it beat -” he held up his creation, “- a candy cane?”

The mini candy cane was made out of two twisted lengths of paper clips and looked quite good, but Riley raised an eyebrow.  
“Your favourite thing about Christmas is candy canes?

Shrugging, Mac admitted, “well not candy canes specifically, but all the good food around this time.”

Riley grinned triumphantly.  
“Well, that means I win!”

Looking at her with mock outrage, Mac said “hey wait, how's that fair?”

Grabbing a handful of chips, she said, “well candy canes aren’t your favourite thing about Christmas, the meals are, therefore you didn’t follow the category.”

“So I should’ve made an entire feast out of paper clips?”  
At her silent raised eyebrow he scoffed.  
“In case you forgot Ms Davis, we’ve had a very hard day, and while I’m sure I could actually do that, I simply can’t be bothered right now.”

Riley grinned and tutted.  
“All I’m hearing are excuses, Macgyver.”

He burst into laughter, and through it, said, “well, the ornament making crown belongs to you.”

She grinned.  
“Why thank you.”

Grabbing a handful of chips, he said, “well, your turn to choose a category.”

She thought about it then grinned, knowing that this category was in her favour. Mac’s eyes narrowed, not trusting the look on her face, but ignoring it, she said, “favourite tool to use on missions.”

He groaned.  
“Well no wonder you said you’re going to win. You’ve rigged it so that’s exactly what’s going to happen!”

Shaking her head, with the grin still on her face, she replied, “that’s on you Mac! It’s my turn, so it makes sense to choose something which gives me the upper hand.”  
He shook his head, but studied his paper clips with a faint smile and Riley turned to hers. 

She unraveled, then joined a few paper clips into two perpendicular rectangles, forming an open laptop, then added another paperclip on the top so it could hang.  
Mac seemed to be done already so she held up hers and he spoke in a slightly sarcastic tone.  
“A laptop, wow, so hard to make!”

She laughed and shook her head, then pointing her chin in the direction of his hands said, “well what do you have?”

He held up a single paper clip that he had unravelled then reformed with a few bumps, making it look kind of like a cloud. She stared at it in confusion.  
"Your favorite tool is the weather?"

He chuckled.  
“It's not a cloud. I wanted to make my swiss army knife, but it's too much to do right now, though I'm sure I could make a semi functioning one with just paper clips -"

She laughed.  
"I have no doubt about that."

Laughing as well, he continued, “I realised that the knife is just the way for me to use what actually gets us through missions.”

“A cloud?”

He smirked.  
“My brain actually.”

There was a moment of silence before Riley burst out laughing. What Mac had said was completely true, but there was no way she was _not_ going to make fun of it. Trying her best to imitate his voice, she said, “look at me I’m Angus Macgyver with my marvellous brilliant brain!”

He laughed, taking no offence at her teasing, and held up his hands.  
“Hey cool it Riles, it’s not like you gave me much of a choice!”

She laughed some more, then grabbing more chips said, “well, it’s your turn now.”

There was silence, but then Mac laughed to himself as he came up with an idea, and interested in what it was, Riley raised an eyebrow as he spoke with a grin.  
“The most annoying thing about Jack.”

She burst into laughter.  
“ _Now_ things are about to get really interesting!”  
Mac laughed and immediately started to work on something but Riley had to think about it a bit before starting.  
She found that she really loved Mac’s choice of topic.  
With Jack still chasing Kovack, anytime he was mentioned Riley only got more and more worried and anxious, but in this moment she heard Jack’s name and was filled with happiness.  
She finished and looked proudly at what was very clearly an outline of a bear. 

Next to her, Mac held up what looked to be a skyscraper and said nothing, waiting for her to figure it out.  
She raised an eyebrow. The outline of the building did look vaguely familiar but what did it have to do with -  
OH.  
She burst out laughing.  
“Nakatomi Plaza!”

Mac shook his head while laughing.  
“Did you know that when Jack first heard that I’d never watched Die Hard, he sat me down and made me watch it two times,” and fixing her with a slightly pained look, added, “in a row!”  
She laughed and, smiling at her reaction, he continued, “When the end credits rolled, he rewinded it and made it start all over again, and I had to sit through almost _five hours_ of listening to his commentary on the movie and what a masterpiece it was!”

Riley shook her head, Jack and his love for Die Hard was really something else.  
“He did the exact same thing with me when I was like 10.”

Mac chuckled, shaking his head.  
“Is that movie even appropriate for a 10 year old?”

Laughing, Riley replied, “it’s no coincidence that my mum was out that day,” and as Mac laughed, she continued.  
“After rewinding it after watching it the first time, he went to get more snacks, and while he wasn’t looking I undid the wiring on the TV and pretended like nothing happened. Jack was SO disappointed we couldn’t watch it again!”

Mac burst into loud laughter.  
“I’m not surprised by this story _at all!_ ”

Chuckling along, Riley added, “to this day I still don’t think Jack has realised that I had anything to do with the TV ‘breaking’.”

Mac shook his head at her antics and after the laughter settled down, he said, “well, what did you make?”

She held up her ornament and grinned at the confusion on his face.  
“A bear?”

She chuckled.  
“Jack is _such_ an overprotective momma bear, _especially_ when it comes to my love life!”

Laughing, Mac admitted, “yeah, Jack gets _pretty_ overprotective when it comes to potential men in your life. In fact, more than a few times I’ve had to remind him that you're not a kid anymore and you know what you’re doing.”

That was news to Riley.  
“Really?”

Mac chuckled.  
“Yeah. But given how overprotective he is about it, he doesn’t seem good at spotting your potential suitors.”

“What do you mean?”

“I was the one who pointed out to Jack that you and Billy were interested in each other.”

Another thing Riley didn’t know had happened.  
“Really? When was this?”

“The mission with you and Billy on the plane.”

Riley shuddered slightly at a memory, that mission had been terrifying, but then she fixed Mac with a look.  
“How did you know we had a thing for each other then? I’m not even sure I was aware of it at that point.”

Mac just shrugged, avoiding her gaze as he grabbed some chips from the packet.  
“I know you pretty well Riles, I can tell when something’s up with you.”  
Riley knew that to be true, after all, he had found out about Aubrey even when she’d tried to hide it from everyone.  
Clearing his throat, Mac continued.  
“And well, anyone would see that Billy was enamoured by you. How could he not be?”

That statement pleasantly surprised Riley and she had never been more grateful for her darker skin, which almost never showed her blushing.  
“Well… uh… thanks for that I guess. 

Mac grinned at her.  
“Of course.” 

After doing a few more, including favourite country visited, favorite food, childhood pet and favourite thing to do during airplane rides, it was her turn again and she said the first thing that came to mind.  
“Best recent mission.”

“Okay, this will be interesting.”

Agreeing with him, Riley started to make a rocket, for one of their more recent missions at NASA, where everything had gone to plan. Out of the corner of her eyes, she looked at Mac and faltered slightly seeing the serious expression on his face as he stared at his paperclips.  
Shit. Maybe she shouldn’t have mentioned missions and work? After all, that’s why he’d been feeling down earlier and what prompted her to start all of this. It was too late to take back now, but she promised herself she’d keep it light and breezy. 

Seeing that Mac was done, she held up her rocket and showed it with a smile.  
“I’ve always wanted to visit NASA, and of course it helped that everything went to plan.”

Mac smiled back, then slowly showed her what he had made, as if he wasn’t completely sure about it.  
Riley didn’t know what to expect, but was genuinely surprised by the bomb he had made. The first missions that came to mind, Germany and Codex, were not good ones, so why did Mac make a bomb for “best mission”?  
She shook her head.  
“You’re gonna have to explain this one Mac, I think I’m thinking of different missions than you are because -”

“No you’re right, it’s for the Germany mission and when we joined Codex.”

So much for light and breezy.  
She let out a short laugh.  
“I don’t know about you Mac, but almost being flattened by a two ton bomb and then almost getting blown up by another don’t equal happy memories for me.”

He shot her a half smile.  
“Yeah, I’ll be the first to admit, those moments were absolutely terrifying, but that’s not why I made the bomb.”

“Why then? I really don’t get it.”

He shrugged.  
“The best parts weren’t those moments themselves, but something I realised because of them,” she was about to speak, but he added, “actually, I already knew it, but those missions really cemented the fact.” 

Riley still didn’t understand and replied with a bit of sarcasm in her voice.  
“What? That life is precious and we need to treasure every moment?”

He shook his head and looked her in the eye.  
“No. That _you_ are precious and I’m so lucky to have you in my life.”

Riley froze in shock, almost forgetting to breathe. She didn’t know how to reply to that statement or the intense look in Mac’s eyes as he said it. At her silence, not moving his gaze away from hers, he continued.  
“Seriously Riles. I know we face death a lot in our job, but with both those missions, especially codex, I genuinely thought I was going to die,” his face softening, he added, “and there you were, the only one standing right beside me, never leaving my side, even though you knew the danger.”

So many emotions filled Riley and she didn’t know what to say, but one thought stood out clearly in her mind.  
_God_ she loved this man.  
No way could she tell him that though. Clearing her throat, she blinked away the slight wetness in her eyes and reached out for his hand. When he intertwined his fingers through hers and held back tightly, just like at Codex, she managed to get out a quiet, “package deal, remember?”

A soft, gentle smile lit up his face and he whispered back in the same tone.  
“And that means more to me then you could ever know.”

They sat like that for a few moments, until the emotions in her grew so intense, the feel of Mac’s fingers intertwined with hers got too much, and squeezing his hand once, she moved hers back. Was it just her or did he seem reluctant to let go?  
Not wanting this moment to become too intense, she wasn’t ready to deal with all that emotion just now, she looked at all the ornaments they had between them and cleared her throat.  
“Wanna hang them up now?”

Mac grinned at her, almost as if he could tell what she was doing, and it reminded her of the look he had given her after holding her hand in Germany.  
Thankfully, he didn’t comment on it.  
“Yeah, I think 16 ornaments should be enough.”

She nodded, and as he got up, she moved the now empty chip packet onto the coffee table. Mac held his hand out and she used it to get up. As much as she loved holding Mac’s hand in anyway possible, she was glad the contact only lasted for a moment. It caused too many thoughts to fly around in her head, and right now she just wanted to enjoy this moment with Mac. 

They started hanging the ornaments around the tree, balancing out the placements, and grinning at each other as they were reminded of the stories behind them all.  
Even though, after a long hard day, it was close to 2am, Riley was thoroughly enjoying this moment and a quick glance at Mac confirmed that he was feeling the same. She broke the comfortable silence that had settled in the room.  
“Hey Mac.”

He looked at her with a smile.  
“Yeah?”

“We should make this into a new Christmas tradition.”

His eyes lit up at the idea, and softly smiling at her, he replied, “I think that’s a great idea Riles.”

With a smirk, she added, “I’m glad you agree, after all, I have to defend my winning streak.”  
Mac burst into laughter, shaking his head, and Riley couldn’t help but grin at the sight.


End file.
